Documenting Endangered Literary Genres in Sasak, Eastern Indonesia
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Documenting endangered literary genres in Sasak, eastern Indonesia Peter K. Austin Endangered Languages Academic Programme Department of Linguistics, SOAS ANDC, Australian National University [email protected] 2013-01-30 Draft paper prepared for Indonesian Linguistics Workshop, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, February 2013 – do not quote or cite without permission Abstract1 The island of Lombok, eastern Indonesia, is linguistically and culturally complex, with several languages being used there, including Sasak, Balinese, Kawi (a form of early modern Javanese) and Indonesian. Sasak shows wide geographical and social variation, with a system of speech levels, apparently borrowed from its western neighbours. The Sasaks also have a literary tradition of writing manuscripts on palm leaves (lòntar) in a manner similar to that of the Balinese (Rubinstein 2000, Creese 1999), and historically, the Javanese. Lombok today remains one of only a handful of places in Indonesia where reading lòntar (called in Sasak, pepaòsan) continues to be practised, however even there the number of people who are able to read and interpret the texts is rapidly diminishing. In this paper I outline the nature of the Sasak literary materials (see also Marrison 1999, 2000, Van der Meij 1996, 2002), how reading is taught, the nature of reading performances, and the role of this genre within contemporary Sasak culture. This work results from fieldwork undertaken in two locations on Lombok, and studies I have carried out with some of the few younger specialists who is able to perform lòntar reading. The paper concludes with discussion of some challenges for language documentation theory and practice (Himmelmann 2002, Woodbury 2011) that arise in the process of recording and analyzing 1 Research on Sasak has been supported at various times by the Australian Research Council, the School of Oriental and African Studies, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung. I am grateful to Sasak colleagues Nur Ahmadi, Lalu Dasmara, Ispan Junaidi, Yon Mahyuni, Syahdan, Sudirman and Herman Suheri for teaching me Sasak, and to Sudirman and the people of Penujak, especially Amaq Nurul, for inviting me to observe a pepaòsan there in August 2002. Thanks are also due to Wiwik Widarti for organising a pepaòsan performance in Lenek village, east Lombok in July 2012. This paper was written while I was on research leave from SOAS (January to March 2013) and held a Visiting Research Fellowship at the Australian National Dictionary Centre, Australian National University, Australia; my thanks to Sarah Ogilvie, Amanda Laugesen, and Jane Simpson for sponsoring my visit, and to David Nathan for comments on an earlier draft. Earlier versions of material in sections 2-5 was published in Austin 2010; it has been updated and expanded following further fieldwork and research. Material in section 6 is entirely new. I alone am responsible for any errors or misunderstandings in this paper. pepaòsan due to their nature as multidimensional events linking written texts (‘scripts’) to multilingual polyphonic spoken performances in complex ways. 1. Introduction The Sasak, who live on the island of Lombok in eastern Indonesia, have a literary tradition of writing on the dried leaves of the lontar palm (Borassus flabellifer) which they share with their western neighbours, the Balinese and Javanese. The lontar manuscripts are written in Kawi, a form of early Javanese, or Sasak, or a mixture of both. Historical evidence suggests that this tradition originated from contact between the Sasak and the Javanese and Balinese, both of whom dominated various parts of Lombok at different times. Compared to research on Balinese and Javanese literary traditions (Rubinstein 2000, Brandes 1901-1926, Creese 1999, 2009, McDonald 1986, among others), there has been very little work done on Sasak lontar (with the exceptions of van der Meij 1996, Achadiati et. al. 1999), and virtually nothing has been published about the performances (called in Sasak pepaòsan) associated with reading lontar (in Sasak mace). This paper reports on aspects of the Sasak tradition in its sociolinguistic context, and briefly and incompletely describes performances observed in southern Lombok in 2002 and in eastern Lombok in 2012. We also explore some issues which documentation of lontar reading performances raise for the theory and practice of language documentation as it has come to be understood in the past 15 years (Himmelmann 1996, 2002, Woodbury 2011). 2. Geography and history The island of Lombok is located immediately to the east of Bali (approximately 8.5° South, 116° East) in the Lesser Sunda Islands in the Indonesian archipelago. Physically, Lombok is dominated by the active volcano Gunung Rinjani which at 3,726 metres is the third highest mountain in Indonesia. To the south of the mountain is a fertile plain approximately 25km wide where the majority of the population of about 2.3 million lives. This geographical distribution has important social and linguistic consequences, especially in terms of the distribution of dialect features discussed in Section 3 below. Map 1 shows the locations where we have collected Sasak data and the ‘dialect’ spoken in each location. 2 Map 1: Lombok research locations and language varieties Legend 1. Gangga (Kutó-kuté) 2. Sembaloen Lawang (Nggetó- nggeté) 3. Puyung (Menó-mené) 4. Praya (Menó-mené) 5. Semayan (Menó-mené) 6. Sakra (Ngenó-ngené) 7. Selong (Ngenó-ngené) 8. Tanjung (Ngenó-ngené) 9. Penujaq (Meriaq-meriku) The early history of Lombok is not well documented, but the Nagarakretagama manuscript (written in Javanese in 1365 and taken from Cakrenegara by the Dutch in 1894) refers to Lombok’s link to the Majapahit empire (1294-1478) during the 14th century. Hayam Wuruk (1328-89), the Majapahit King from 1350 to 1389, is said to have expanded Majapahit’s influence over Bali and claimed Lombok, Sumbawa, and parts of Sulawesi (Ricklefs 1993:19; Clegg 2004:71). On Lombok itself there were a number of Sasak kingdoms which were frequently in conflict. In 1334, the Majapahit Regent Gajah Mada visited the two most important Sasak kingdoms, Selaparang in east Lombok and Pejanggik in central Lombok (Clegg 2004:72). It was probably at this time that the Sasaks adopted a caste system and an aristocracy modeled on the Javanese court (see Section 3 below), and began to be influenced by Hindu-Buddhist cultural concepts and practices, including literacy (Pelras 1996:108). From the 16th century onwards, the Sasak adopted Islam, mainly beginning in East Lombok with the Selaparang kingdom. A syncretic form of Islam (called wetu telu in Sasak) that blends Hindu-Buddhist, Islamic and ancestor and spirit worship developed alongside more orthodox Sunni Islam (called waktu lime in Sasak). The significance of these religious divisions for lontar reading is discussed further below (see also Cederroth 1981, 1996). In the 16th century, the Southern Balinese Gelgel kingdom dominated west Lombok centred on the port of Ampenan (Clegg 2004:76-77), while east Lombok came under the influence of the Islamic Makassarese empire that established relations with the Selaparang Kingdom in 1637 (Andaya 1981:1). In 1678, Gelgel drove the Makassarese out of east Lombok to Sumbawa, but sporadic resistance by the Sasak of Selaparang continued (Kraan 1980:4). Clegg (2004:81) points out that: Unlike East Lombok, there were no Sasak courts or aristocracy in West Lombok and the relationship between the Balinese rulers and the ruled Sasak was ‘orderly’ (Kraan 1980:4). Through inter-marriage and religious influence many Sasak were partially 3 integrated with their Balinese rulers. Sasak who adhered to Wektu Telu [sic.], the mystical form of Islam strongly influenced by Hindu-Buddhist and spiritual beliefs, often participated in Balinese religious festivities and worshipped at the same shrines (Harnish 1991). In East Lombok, where Balinese authority had only asserted a shadowy presence since 1668 and where a frustrated Sasak aristocracy existed, relations between the Balinese and Sasak were less harmonious. Adherents to purer form of Islam in east Lombok regarded the Balinese as ‘unbelievers’. In 1740, Gusti Wayahan Tegeh, son of the Karangasem Balinese King, conquered the Gelgel Balinese of West Lombok and took control of much of the island. He also introduced law books and other texts and established a priesthood, promoting Balinese culture (Kraan 1975:94); Clegg 2004:82). Following his death in 1775, separate Balinese states developed in west Lombok (Kraan 1980:5), and by the early 19th century, there were four rivals: Karangasem-Lombok (Cakranegara), Pagesangan, Pagutan, and Mataram. As Clegg (2004:83) notes: The Karangasem-Lombok Kingdom was the strongest and sought to enhance its court by collecting the greatest works of the Balinese and Javanese literary tradition eventually making it the centre of literary tradition even greater than those of their rival Kingdoms in Bali. Ironically, by following what they considered a ‘Javanese model of culture’, they were actually being ‘ultra-Balinese’ … (Vickers 1989:59) The literary tradition of writing lontars in both Kawi and Sasak must have been strengthened by these developments. In the 19th century, there were rising tensions between the Balinese kingdoms in west Lombok and the Sasak, who revolted in 1855 and 1871, led by Islamic aristocrats from east Lombok. The Dutch intervened militarily in 1894 following a further Sasak rebellion in 1891, destroying the Balinese Mataram kingdom and occupying the whole of the island by the end of August the following year. Dutch control continued until 1942 when the Japanese occupied Lombok, and was reestablished in 1946 by the Nederland Indies Civil Administration (Clegg 2004:99-100), finally ending in December 1949 when Lombok became part of the Republic of Indonesia. 3. Sasak people and language The current population of Lombok is approximately 3 million of whom 85% are ethnic Sasak (about 2.6 million). There are also approximately 300,000 Balinese, mostly living in the western part of the island in and near the capital Mataram.